Design - Freeman Thomas

Good design begins with honesty.

"Honesty is my approach," says Thomas. "That, and not being afraid to put my head on the chopping block to take a risk." Honesty of design, for Thomas, means designing cars that know what they are trying to be. "Forms, shapes -- they have a certain language. Either they are honest, or they feel contrived." Honesty doesn't mean designing cars that are purely utilitarian -- Thomas views every car as a chance for fun. "Sometimes, you want to be lifted away from the ordinary. We've learned to make cars more and more efficient, but we need to learn to bring emotion back into them."

Good design asks tough questions.

The next generation of cars will question assumptions, just as the current generation does: How will we use a car? How will we feel inside it? What technology will it offer? How will it function ecologically? And how safe is it?

Good design comes from collaboration.

"I want the most interactive team in the world. Part of that means exposing my own strengths and weaknesses." Thomas often sketches while talking to his designers, something that not all managers are willing to do. "A car requires different talents to come together. But you have to have a conductor. At the end of the day, you want the product to say something polarized and distinctive."

Good design comes from trusting your intuition.

Thomas's own creative process, he says, "is very intuitive. Intuition is part experience and part talent. Your intuition -- your ability to know what's right -- should become more and more sharp over time."